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Issue Attributes

Issue Attributes

Thu, 5 Sep, 2019 at 9:14 AM

A good chunk of BIM Track’s power is based on properly filling out issue attributes; most of which can be customized per project in the project settings. We’re going to take a deep dive into issue attribute best practices for optimal BIM Track project and team management.

The most important thing to keep in mind while you are setting and assigning these issue parameters is that this is how you will filter issues for coordination reports, check your project is on track and more. Think of what you will need to sort these by and you will set up the right parameters.

Team Management

Assigned to is the person that needs to resolve the issue. In BIM Track, we allow users to add one individual’s name. This generates an email that gets sent to the user, albeit within their user notification parameters (weekly, daily, monthly). Only one person can be selected to avoid lack of accountability / lack of action / confusion.

Confidentiality controls who can see an issue. If you’re not part of a team, you won’t see any issues that have this team assigned to it.

In confidentiality, you can grant access to one or multiple teams. However bear in mind that everyone in the team access field will receive notifications when issues are modified. If project creators want to see all issues, they should add themselves to all the teams.

Notify is the BIM Track equivalent of cc’ing someone in an email. They will be notified of all changes. Teams or individuals who have access to the issue can be selected under the notify column.

How critical is it?

Priority is set according to impact on project. This table clarifies what we consider acceptable resolution timeframe; feel free to appropriate, fill out with your own resolution deadlines and distribute it internally (or in your BEP / BxP) so all teams are in the same page.

Due dates are by default set 7 days after the creation of the issue. The default length may be changed in project settings or assigned manually per issue to a given date for a specific deadline.

Where is it?

Zone is usually set according to the nature of the project in the project settings. Zones (or areas) will be used for filtering issues and creating detailed reports, so this is the main driver to figuring out how you want to configure zones.

Here are a few examples of how they can be used:

In a high-rise multi residential building, the zone would typically be set by level.

For a large campus project with multiple buildings on the same site, the zones may be set for individual building (zone A, B, C, D etc.).

For an airport project with connected zones, you can split by area in the building ex: terminal gate A, B, C. Or an annex of all of them.

Another option for further precision is to create names like BuildingA-Level1.

Phase is configured differently based on the scope of work or project phase you are involved with.

For example if you’re a designer and you’re working early in the project then your phases may be schematic design, design documentation, construction documentation, construction, and project handover. If you’re a GC or sub, you may only be involved in pre-construction and construction.

So it might make sense to split the phases by construction sequence. You may also align them by work package to follow up with specific work scope with the sub trades. You can set up custom phases in the project’s settings.

More helpful details

Discipline is typically used to represent core disciplines such as Architectural, Structural, MEP, or sub-disciplines like fire protection, drainage, HVAC, plumbing, steel structure, concrete structure etc. There is no link to issue access with this attribute, as it is used primarily for issue resolution metrics so keep this in mind when setting it up this attribute.

The discipline attribute now creates a live link between the issue and the models in BIM Track's web viewer. So when you click "View in Model", all of the models that are tagged with the disciplines included in the issue will open.

The disciplines attribute is the only attribute that allows for multiple field selection. We are essentially stamping all the disciplines that may be involved on that specific issue. This allows us to cross reference issues when applying filters to our issues page.

Group is a bit like a tag. This field is not predefined in BIM Track’s project settings. Usually our clients are adding the clash test name from Navisworks’ clash detective, or a coordination meeting name / date to create reports for meetings or a specific groups of issues.

Type is a field to provide additional information about the nature of an issue. Issues are not just clashes. They could be RFIs, comments, requests, clashes of course, questions, data validation, replacement requests, defects, financial matters, errors, or omissions. We have default values that can be changed, or added to, in the project settings. Why is this helpful? Again you can sort your reports and metrics by type, allowing you to focus on the issues you need to.

Custom AttributesMany project admins have that one bit of data they wish they could add to each issue. With custom attributes, you can add up to 3 custom issue attributes per project in addition to the out of the box attributes. Commonly added fields are grids, levels, and cost.

Check out how we set up our project attributes from the Project Settingsarticle.